Cups

What is the Association Cup?

What is the Association Cup?

Cal North Association Cup is cup competition created for Cal North Division mid-level competitive teams (or Recreational teams wishing to "play up"). Any qualified Cal North Competitive or Recreational teams may apply to and participate in Association Cup. Teams that qualify to play in Association Cup are those teams that participate in Silver Elite level competition or lower. Top tier Competitive teams or those teams that are seeking the opportunity to advance to a Regional/National competition are encouraged to apply for Presidents Cup. The Cal North Association Cup hosts brackets in the U12, U13, U14, U15, U16 and U19 age groups.

Who is eligible to attend the Cal North Association Cup?

In order to participate in U12-U19 Association Cup the team must be a Cal North registered team in the U12-U19 age groups that competes in an approved playing league hosted by a Cal North District or an affiliated member league. Association Cup is open ONLY to teams and players that participated in a playing league for Silver Elite, Silver, Bronze, Copper or Recreational teams. Teams and/or players that participated in California Regional League, Premier or Gold divisions of Cal North sanctioned playing leagues are not eligible for Association Cup. Teams must have a team roster that has been approved by their Registrar in order to complete their application to Association Cup. GOTSOCCER ROSTERS ARE NOT USED FOR THE CUP APPLICATION PROCESS OR ACCEPTED AT ANY TIME THROUGHOUT CAL NORTH CUP. ONLY THE OFFICIAL CYSA CAL NORTH ROSTER IS ACCEPTED. The roster requirement also applies to teams that will fulfill their playing league requirement by participating in a 2014 Cal North Winter or Spring League or any other official, recognized Cal North Winter or Spring playing league.

When does the Cal North Association Cup take place?

The Association Cup calendar can be located on the Association Cup page of the Cal North website. All dates are subject to change when circumstances are beyond the control of the Cup organizers. The U12, U13 and U14 Association Cup will take place in January. The U15-19 age groups start play in March.

What is the format of the Cal North Association Cup?

Teams are placed into brackets by modified blind draw. During the preliminary round play on the first weekend of cup, teams will play round-robin against the other teams in their bracket. On the round-robin weekend teams will have one or two games on Saturday and one or two games on Sunday. Teams qualify to advance to the single elimination rounds either as bracket winners or as a second place team from a bracket that has been designated to include a "wild card". Teams advancing to the single elimination rounds will play "knock out" games where the winning teams advance to the following round of play and the losing team is eliminated from the competition. The winning team will continue to advance from each single elimination match. Second round games, round of 16 games, quarter finals, semifinals and championships are scheduled as necessary over the course of subsequent weekends. The scheduling of the single elimination round games will be based on the number of brackets. The U12 and older age groups play 11 v 11 matches and will play over a two or three weekend period. In the event of weather-related field cancellations, the games may be postponed to alternate weekends and/or relocated to venues where the conditions allow play to continue.

Where are the games held?

We attempt to schedule games at centrally located venues, however the Cal North Association Cup is a Northern California-wide event and therefore games could be hosted by any of the nine districts within Cal North’s territorial area (see the map of Cal North territory on the Cal North website). Teams should be prepared to travel anywhere within this area. Venues will be selected after we are able to confirm the number of applications in each age group. Over the past several seasons most of the cup games have been played at the Morgan Hill Outdoor Sports Center, Cherry Island Soccer Complex near Sacramento, Bartholomew Sports Park in Elk Grove, Mary Grogan Community Park in Modesto and Mistlin Soccer Park in Ripon.

What cost is associated with the Cal North Association Cup Tournament?

The Association Cup entry fee is $550 for timely applications. The entry fee covers the costs of facility rental, field preparation, referees, support staff, awards, and other associated costs. Any cup-related costs incurred by the team for transportation, lodging, food, etc. are the responsibility of the team members. The Reserve Pool entry fee is $650 for teams applying after the deadline.

What are the dates/deadlines associated with attending Association Cup?

In order to be accepted for Association Cup teams must complete an online application. Event registration can be accessed by selecting the cup to which the team is applying from the “Select a Tournament” drop down menu on the team’s account page. Entry fees can be paid online with a credit card or e-check during the application process or sent via check/money order. The team roster, adds, transfers, releases and continuity of 9 players from league play will be automatically tracked and verified through the Affinity System.

The deadline to file an application for U12-U14 Association Cup is 5 PM November 1st and 5 PM January 1st for U15-U19 teams. Any applications completed after the deadline will be directed to the Reserve Pool and will be placed in the Cup on a space available basis. Reserve Pool applicants are not guaranteed a spot in the competition.

What is the roster submittal requirement?

The official team rosters must be approved in the Cal North registration database by the team’s Registrar. Teams that will be playing in an official, recognized 2014-2015 Cal North winter or spring playing league in order to fulfill their playing league requirement for Association Cup also MUST have a valid Cal North team roster authorized by their Registrar in the Cal North Data Management System by the application deadline. If the team does not already have a roster that has been approved by the registrar they should email their League registrar or District Registrar for specific timelines and deadlines that must be met in order to obtain an approved roster by the applicable Association Cup application deadline.

Can I make changes to my roster before attending Association Cup?

Teams can continue to make roster changes after they apply to a Cal North Cup. The team roster "freezes" on the Tuesday prior to the cup’s scheduled start date but all changes must be submitted by the team’s league to the Registrar on the Friday prior to the roster being frozen. During the season Cal North allows up to 5 inter league transfers per team (players moving from one league’s roster to another league’s roster), an unlimited number of intra league transfers (players moving from one roster to another within the same league and considered to be a "club pass") and an unlimited number of added players (players not on a Cal North roster this season). Although there is no freeze date for adding or deleting registered team officials (coaches, assistant coaches, managers, etc.) all player movement on and off the roster will stop on the freeze date. Throughout all roster changes, a team must retain a core of 9 players from their league roster to the Cup roster. U12-U13 teams may have a maximum of 18 rostered players. U14 and older teams may roster no more than 22 players Teams should contact their league registrars for guidance regarding roster changes and/or the timeline for submitting roster changes to the League and/or District prior to the roster freeze deadline.

Interested in Participating?

If your team is planning to apply for Cal North Association Cup first confirm that you have enough players who are committed to participate on all of the weekends that are noted on the Association Cup calendar. If not, you may want to consider transferring or adding players to supplement the roster. Keep in mind you will not be able to make changes to your Association Cup roster after the freeze date that teams and that Cal North rules require that the team must carry over a core of 9 players from their league roster to their Cup roster. U14 and older teams are allowed to roster up to 22 players however prior to each game the team will be required to designate no more than 18 players for the game roster.